


A New Contract

by askull4everyoccasion



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-21
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-08-16 14:29:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8105947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/askull4everyoccasion/pseuds/askull4everyoccasion
Summary: Skull, a creature of uncertain extra-terrestrial origin trapped and bound by a contract serving the Lupo Family is sent out to deal with some of the family’s business. Things don’t go according to plan.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a short 3-part original story that I wanted to get out of my system before diving back into Undertale fanfiction. I took more time on it than I have with the other things put up here so you might notice the writing is a little different. I know original stories aren't everyone's cup of tea, but I hope some of you enjoy it nonetheless.

He'll probably be at the Indigo trying to unwind. It's where he and his buddies meet up for drinks.

  
  


_ Make sure you send a message. This is probably too simple a job for you but I need it done. _

  
  


_ Keep casualties to a minimum. _

  
  


…  _ And try not to get caught on camera this time. _

  
  


Cool summer wind, stifled only by the drifting waves of heat created by the surrounding city congestion and occasional draft of smoggy air kicked up from the grates nestled in the pavement. The night sky was tinged orange by the lights of the surrounding buildings, barely a star or cloud to be seen and the main street was busy as always, clogged with foot traffic and cars racing to get from one club to another. Cabs sat waiting on the curb as men and women toppled either in or out of them, laughing and joking in various states of sobriety.

  
  


Skull stayed to the back alleys like they were told.

  
  


Occasionally they would stop and stare down a dim corridor filled with dumpsters and debris to eye the busy street just beyond, as though longing to step out of the shadows, to race forward and scream 'I'm here'.

  
  


But they didn't. They obeyed their orders to get there hidden.

  
  


The Indigo was the go-to nightclub for a lot of people. The line was long but the drinks, music, and atmosphere were the best around. The front was full of flashing lights and rope, a bouncer always stood like a brick wall out front, only letting so many inside at a time as the night drew on.

  
  


Skull wouldn't be coming through the front entrance.

  
  


The back of the club was a different story. Dirty. Garbage littered the area just outside the exit. The steps were plastered with old gum, creating a rainbow of color on otherwise dull concrete squares. Empty eye sockets looked down at the steps before climbing them and standing on the uppermost one, inches from the door.

  
  


The suit encasing their body was pressed and clean. Their shoes shined and free of imperfections. They stood out like a sore thumb among the filth around them.

  
  


Skull's head angled backwards slightly, just enough to give the appearance as though they were staring at the lamp hung over the doorway. Mosquitoes and other insects buzzed around it, completely oblivious to the corpses of their fallen comrades collecting in the bottom of the light that they sought out so fervently.

  
  


Their head straightened, the wolf skull staring ahead blankly at the door in front of them. The nail stabbed into the area above their left eye socket was just as scuffed and lacerated as the door in front of them, having been kicked shut and banged into many times over the years.

  
  


A solid black, clawed hand reached up to try the handle. It moved only slightly before stopping, the lock clicking as it was forced. It was no surprise it was locked. You didn't want people sneaking in, after all.

  
  


Skull stared at the knob for a few moments. Locked or not they had been given a task, whether they wanted to actually complete it or not wasn't something they got to decide. It had to happen, no matter their opinion.

  
  


The creature poised itself, one leg raising upwards before shooting forward, slamming their heel into the door and forcing it open.

  
  


It swung with a crash, bits of wood from the door frame splintering off and sliding across the floor, the hinges bent and busted. The workers inside screamed and scrambled, smartly-dressed attendants ducking behind tables and bins. A few managed to run out of the room entirely, but those that hadn't right away stayed where they were, eyes wide at the creature before them.

  
  


…  _ Was it a mask? Was this a robbery? _

  
  


A few of them flicked out their phones, a hum of panicked mumbling rising among them as they started to record the crazed maniac who stood in the doorway to the back room. Skull turned, letting empty eyes meet a few of them.

  
  


Master wouldn't like that.

  
  


… But he said to keep casualties to a minimum.

  
  


Skull turned, facing forward, and began to walk.

  
  


The staff that still lingered asking questions on what the noise might have been scattered as soon as they saw them, startled gasps leaving their mouths before they ducked away into other rooms or tugged their coworkers aside to hide with them.

  
  


The brighter work areas eventually made way for the darker hallways around the main area of the club filled with the drunk and those wanting to go unseen. A man stumbled blindly forward, pushing off one wall to crash into the next. He fell into the creature's shoulder, knocked off to the side with a jolt that snapped him out of a drunken haze to look up at what he had just bumbled into.

  
  


A dead wolf looked back at him.

  
  


He smiled and patted the strange thing on the shoulder before shouting, “Nice costume!” much louder than he had any reason to. Then off he went, stumbling from one wall to the next looking for the exit.

  
  


The music grew louder and louder the closer they got to the main area of the club. The floor vibrated with each heavy thump through the speakers placed throughout the establishment, the walls buzzing with reverberation every time the music pitched and everyone danced in time.

  
  


Another man passed him, instantly looking uncomfortable as he squeezed by, never once taking his eyes off the strange being walking through the dark hallway. Skull stopped, turning their head just enough to watch the man scramble away a little bit faster, perhaps thinking that the drugs they had decided to try weren't really a good idea after all.

  
  


Through the turning back hallways he finally reached the door that lead to the dance floor. Skull's clawed hand hovered over the handle, ready to open it when there was a scream off to their side. They stopped, slowly turning their head to look over at a woman pressed between a wall and the man she had been making out with seconds before.

  
  


She looked terrified.

  
  


The man that had been fondling her finally caught on that his affections weren't being reciprocated and followed the woman's gaze to the creature staring back at them. He switched from mild annoyance to anger instantaneously.

  
  


“Hey!” He yelled, pulling away from the girl to take a few unsteady steps towards Skull. “What the hell, buddy. This ain't Halloween. Take off the fucking mask and stop fuckin' starin' at my girl!”

  
  


The creature didn't move, their hand still poised over the door handle leading out to the dance floor. Showing no anger or real interest in the conversation only served to make the man more angry, words flying out of his mouth inflected with curses every other syllable. He stood close.

  
  


Too close.

  
  


Close enough for spit to spray against Skull's muzzle.

  
  


Their hand left the knob of the door and, in a single, swift motion, was around the man's neck. He gurgled and kicked, grasping at the wrist holding him and beginning to lift him from the ground. One hand left Skull's arm to slam into the ridge of the wolf skull's snout, but it only served to give him a sore hand along with everything else.

  
  


The woman's yelling brought the beast back to attention, head tilting slightly to get a better angle on her from around the man in their grasp as she yelled and made a mad dash passed to get away, leaving her date to fend for himself.

  
  


_ Keep casualties to a minimum. _

  
  


Skull lowered the man to his feet. He gagged, stumbling back slightly and held up his hands in surrender. “S-sor-”

  
  


Before he could finish a fist collided with the side of his face, sending him reeling into the wall before sliding down and slumping into a tangled pile on the floor. The creature stared down at the unconscious figure, their arm going back to the doorknob.

  
  


No casualties.

  
  


They pushed the door open, music slamming into them like a truck. The vibrations from each note punched them through their feet, pushing up through their legs and chest until they could feel it vibrating the metal nail driven into the area above their eye socket. No one noticed the strange creature begin to push through the edges of the crowd, everyone much too focused on their own little world, their own little bubble of friends and lovers as they writhed among one another to the beat of the music blasting throughout the room.

  
  


Skull looked around, watching as the club goers pressed against one another, locked lips in dark corners, and tried desperately to attract some form of affection from others, anything to forget the stress of their daily lives. It was almost disgusting how physical humans were.

  
  


Almost.

  
  


A clawed hand reached into their suit, fingers slipping around a candid photo of the target and pulling it out to look at. Dark sockets eyed the image with scrutiny before slipping it back inside their coat.

  
  


As Skull scanned the room they noted that most of the patrons hadn't taken notice of them. They were just a silhouette among silhouettes, a body crowded with other bodies stood on the edge of the dance floor. As strange as they looked, in a lot of cases humans were much too self-absorbed and focused on their own lives and pleasure to ever take notice of them in a crowded area.

  
  


Eventually they found who they were looking for; a tired, panicked young man sitting at a booth with some of whom Skull expected were his comrades or business acquaintances. None of them were particularly remarkable, just another throng of businessmen who needed to unwind from the stress of the day. Or, in one's case, the stress of a looming debt that needed to be paid.

  
  


With their prey in sight the beast moved forward.

  
  


As they stepped onto the dance floor, the rhythm of the people gyrating and pressing against one another really began to hit them. Thudding shook up through the soles of their shoes sending shock waves up their legs and into their back and arms, vibrating the wolf skull that sat atop a neck made of nothing but darkness.

  
  


Skull began to push through the crowd, not much taller than the average human man and easily blending in until there came the moment when they had to physically touch others to move them out of the way. Some only needed a gentle nudge while others required more of a forceful shove. Either way it finally started to draw people to their attention.

  
  


At first those pushed or jostled aside merely grumbled, shooting glares at the culprit as they passed until they realized just what had moved them – a strange man in a suit wearing the dead remains of a wolf over his face.

  
  


The further they walked through the crowd, aimed directly at their target, the more people caught on. They began to part before Skull had to touch them, the music seeming less and less important as this strange creature, man, or thing, cut through like a boat through the tide.

  
  


It was at that point that the man in the booth saw what was coming for him. The Lupo Family's pet.

  
  


Everyone who knew of the Lupo family knew what seeing their dog meant; death. There would be no trying to talk his way out of it. No bargains or pleas. Not even a quick, execution-style end.

  
  


It would be bloody and painful.

  
  


Panic welled up inside of him. Panic, terror, and despair. For a moment he couldn't even get his legs to move no matter how much he was screaming inside of his own head to run, but when he did finally manage to punch out of the lock around his knees he was like lightning.

  
  


The man spun from his seat and began to race through the crowd towards the nearest way out, the front entrance. He scrambled and shoved his way through, skidding along the floor and slamming into walls as he turned too quickly, pushing passed the bouncer before he could even register what was going on.

  
  


As soon as the man started to run, Skull did too. They pushed through what remained of the crowded dance floor a little more roughly, shoving those aside who remained in the way or hadn't parted quick enough. Once through the crowd they broke out into a run, turning corners with perfect accuracy and darting passed those who had been knocked out of the way by their victim. They burst through the main entrance and onto the sidewalk.

  
  


The line still stretching down along the edge of the pavement erupted with even more gasps and murmurs than it had when the first man had crashed through and went running passed. Some had already pulled out their phones if they hadn't had them out to begin with, recording the events happening before them and hoping to catch some sort of drama to post and share with their friends to prove just how wild and crazy their night had been.

  
  


“Hey!” A gruff voice shouted, the bouncer reaching out to take Skull's arm. One had already gotten away and he wasn't about to let another escape from paying their tab.

  
  


The creature looked at him, empty sockets eyeing the large hand wrapped around their arm. Their head then turned upward just slightly enough to indicate they were staring at the bouncer.

  
  


Whatever fear they might have been able to inflict on others by a mere stare didn't seem to be working with this one. The burly guard only scowled down at them and opened his mouth to berate, or perhaps give some sort of direction or order.

  
  


But this one was not their Master and they had a task to fulfill.

  
  


Skull turned, wrapping their arm around the bouncer's and giving a single upward jerk. The snap of bone was loud enough to cut through all of the chatter of the line waiting outside and the muffled thump of music that came from within the building he was guarding. The scream came shortly after, the bouncer yelling and clutching at his now broken arm as it dangled from the elbow.

  
  


Not much later the line of waiting patrons joined in, some screaming and covering their mouths or turning away while others shouted expletives and couldn't tear their eyes and phones from the strange creature as it calmly turned and began to run down the sidewalk in the direction their prey had fled.

  
  


The bouncer had bought him some time, the man having darted through a few alleys turning this way and that, running blindly through what little he knew of the more shady parts of the area. He ran and ran, climbing fences and nearly spilling over onto the other side before scrambling to his feet again and running more.

  
  


At first he didn't dare look back, much too frightened of what he might see. When he finally did his worst fears were realized.

  
  


The creature always seemed to be hot on his trail. It leapt over fences with practiced ease and never seemed out of breath, charging forward like a demon without pause, without hesitance while their target was in sight.

  
  


Skull couldn't stop now even if they wanted to; and they didn't. Not really. This was just another moment in time chasing down some foolish human who had gotten on the wrong side of the wrong family. It was a small interlude between the times they were kept in darkness, holed away like a prized possession until the next task was provided.

  
  


Eventually the man's luck would run out. You could only twist and turn through back alleys and leap over fences so many times before hitting a dead end. Unfortunately for him, the name would be literal.

  
  


He turned to watch the creature race around the last corner and come to a stop once they realized that their victim had nowhere else to run, hovering in the opening of the alley like a deadly fog.

  
  


This was it. This was the end. He knew it, yet... he didn't want to die.

  
  


“Please...” The man pleaded despite knowing that it was a lost cause. From what little he had heard the dog never listened, never spoke. The only thing it did was deal with the task it had been given and nothing else.

  
  


“I'll... I'll get what he wants. His money, please...” The man held up his hands and backed against the wall behind him.

  
  


Skull began to approach, the clack of shoes against pavement being the only sound coming from the macabre figure as it drew nearer and nearer.

  
  


“Stop! Please! I have a family! I never meant to get this...this...” His words died in his throat as the creature began to loom over him, blocking the light from the street lamps behind them. They weren't particularly tall or even thickly set, but something about them made the air grow ice cold; as though everything stopped as soon as you got close to them, like they were devoid of anything and whatever drew close enough was sucked in never to be seen again.

  
  


The man began to cry.

  
  


He simply couldn't stop himself. He crumbled to his knees, tears streaming down his face as he stared up at his end. His hands reached out, grasping at the pant legs of the monster's trousers, smooth and finely pressed. They looked and felt alien on the strange thing looming over him, the only human thing about them.

  
  


So he clung to it; clung to this small human piece of familiarity in desperation and begged.

  
  


“Please...” He muttered around sobs, “Please...”

  
  


Skull felt nothing for this fool. This entire matter was so inanely trivial. Why had he been given such a mundane, simple task? It was always about money. Deals, bargains, trades, alliances, all of it was so insanely irrelevant. Laughable.

  
  


Humans truly were a collection of utterly ridiculous creatures.

  
  


A cold, clawed hand reached down and grasped hold of the man's short, tufted brown hair sat atop his head. He let out a startled cry, reaching up and grasping at Skull's hand as his head was pulled back, exposing his neck. He scrambled and sobbed, trying to pull away, trying to wretch the cold fingers from his scalp.

  
  


But the grip was absolute. Not even the man's most violent jerks and pulls against them made the creature's arm quiver as they stepped around behind him, empty eye sockets staring down into the watering eyes of the human in their grasp.

  
  


The inky blackness underneath the upper jaw of the wolf skull that served as their head started to mist and swirl. At first it was little more than a collecting fog pulling into a strange shape, but as it started to solidify and gather, the form was unmistakeable; a lower jaw filled with teeth darker than the night. Light never seemed to reach it, the sheer blackness of it all confusing the brain, trying to discern what the eyes were seeing.

  
  


His eyes couldn't turn away. His sobs had stopped completely, shocked and terrified into silence.

  
  


A strange sound started to carry out from the creature's mouth. It wasn't a growl or a roar, nothing like you would expect a demon like this to sound like. It was clicks. Faint whistles. A low, deep, vibrating hum that slipped into your ears and shook your brain. Radio static that fizzled and cracked, broken up only by the growing, breathy throb of something he had never heard before.

  
  


Just as the shock started to fade; as the fear and inevitability of his death became apparent, he found his voice again.

  
  


He started to scream.

  
  


The whistle reached a fever pitch as Skull came down, grabbing onto the man's throat with their jaws and sinking in teeth colder than ice.

  
  


Any screams were quelled, drowned and replaced with a wet gurgle and kicking legs as the man used the last of his energy to try and get away, to try and live.

  
  


Skull flung what flesh and sinew they had ripped out across the alley, a wet smack reverberating down the dark corridor as it hit the building it slapped against, accompanying the sound of blood hitting pavement as their target bled out.

  
  


The scuffing of feet stopped. The drip of blood on stone quickly followed. The man's face grew pale and lost the life to keep the terror plastered across his face any longer as his arms fell limply to his sides, fingers dipping into the pooling red liquid below.

  
  


His eyes dimmed and once again the alley was quiet.

  
  


Skull's hand, still gripping onto the man's head of hair, released. Now lifeless and staring upward for eternity, the corpse fell with a wet thud onto the pavement, blood spreading around what remained and gathering around the creature's shoes.

  
  


They looked down at their prey, lifeless and cold. The front of their suit was spattered with blood, their shoes stained red. The jaw that had formed to do the deed slowly began to dissolve and fade, melding back into the blackness of the rest of their body as though it had never even been there in the first place. Their upper jaw remained, bits of muscle hanging from between the sharp canines that suspended downward like daggers.

  
  


A dark hand reached into the pocket of their suit, pulling out the same photo that they had looked at earlier. The empty sockets of their skull stared into the picture for much longer than before.

  
  


A happy family.

  
  


A loving husband and caring wife.

  
  


A newborn baby girl.

  
  


Skull looked at it, maybe wanting to commit it to memory. Maybe wanting to savor the moment of a job accomplished. Or, perhaps, wondering what actions had transpired in this man's life to lead him up to this point. It was impossible to read their expression. The bone of their face was unmoving, unflinching; a mask that could never be removed.

  
  


They shifted, kneeling down to place the photo over the man's chest before standing again. Then they stared as the edges became soaked with blood, the paper bending and beginning to warp from the fluid creeping into the image printed on the front.

  
  


Skull raised their head to look out the way they had came and began to move, stepping over the corpse and leaving a trail of footprints with no distinguishable soles away from the scene.

  
  


The task was completed.

  
  


It was time to return to their Master.

 


	2. Chapter 2

They had made their way through back alleys just as they were told. They hadn't been seen coming or going, just like they were told.

  
  


Not that it particularly mattered, of course. There was only one family who owned a beast that wore the remains of a wolf with a body that never reflected light.

  
  


The Lupo family estate was grand. Passed down from generation to generation, it was nestled just outside the heart of the city they controlled. The aesthetic never changed, much like the creature they powered over. Large windows, columns, raised on a hill so it looked down over all it ruled, and a line of steps that carried upward to a pair of large double doors.

  
  


Skull's arrival back to their Master's domain was never particularly warm. Those around usually gave them a wide berth, wary glances, and the occasional disgusted scoff. This time was no different as they pushed through the doors and moved through the foyer.

  
  


The floors were polished, the walls decorated with expensive art and potted plants on tables grown with utmost care. Marble and gold and jewels were everywhere you turned. Everything about it was perfect, a display of wealth and sophistication.

  
  


Skull calmly pushed through the main entrance and towards the living room, ignoring the glimpses and side-steps by the staff and guards alike. A few of the family gathered among the couches chatting stopped their conversation to look at them as they passed.

  
  


The blood on their shoes had long since stopped tracking, but was still plain to see. Their front was splattered with much of the same drying red fluid, bits of muscle still hanging from between their upper incisors and blood long dried and flecked across their typically bleached white muzzle.

  
  


Those scattered throughout the house were paid no mind as Skull passed through the living room and up the stairs without so much as a word; the only noise being the clack of their shoes each time they touched down on the polished floors.

  
  


They stopped at the door to their Master's office. Their hand grasped the doorknob and they pushed inside without knocking, the don sitting behind his desk waiting while his closest friend stood on the other side.

  
  


Both of them turned to look as Skull entered, the beast closing the door gingerly behind them like they had been ordered to many times before, now unable to stop themselves from doing the small, mundane task each and every time.

  
  


The room was quiet save for the ticking of an old grandfather clock. Old desks, books, and shelves that had been there ever since they remembered decorated the room, some not moved in generations. Plush carpet, polished oak, and smooth upholstery was all cleaned to perfection. Not a thing was out of place.

  
  


Not a thing but the creature standing before them.

  
  


Their Master looked them up and down, indicating very little as he inspected his gollum. Eventually he reached for a laptop sitting on his desk, spinning it around in order for his dog to see.

  
  


“You were caught on camera again. It's already everywhere.” The don said, their voice level yet stern. He started to play one clip that showed Skull walking through the club's kitchen area, then switched to another that played a candid shot of the creature pushing through the crowds of people on the dance floor. Then yet another, a video of them grabbing the bouncer's arm as the woman recording it talked to her friends wondering what was going on.

  
  


Then the snap of bone and the screams to follow, the camera yanking down suddenly before the video ended.

  
  


Skull watched, their head angled slightly downward to indicate that they were paying attention, although whether they cared or not was a different story entirely and impossible to tell.

  
  


“I told you not to get caught on camera and look-” Their Master said, gesturing to the screen of his laptop and tabbing through each video and others he hadn't bothered to show fully. “How many times do I have to tell you not to get recorded like this?” He asked, his voice flat with only the smallest tinge of annoyance flecked in between his words.

  
  


The beast's head moved away from the laptop's screen to direct their attention towards their Master sitting behind his grand, polished table.

  
  


“That is not how the contract works.”

  
  


Their voice was deep and accompanied by the same heavy, reverberating hum as it had been before in the alley.

  
  


With a sigh the don rubbed his temple slowly, “The contract is that you have to do everything I ask. Every request I have, you are meant to do without question.” He finally allowed himself to frown fully, a finger tapping on the top of his desk as his brow furrowed, dark eyes looking up at the creature that stood in front of him. “I told you not to get caught on camera and you did, and not just once, by multiple people.”

  
  


“Master told me to keep casualties to zero.” Skull said, their voice flat.

  
  


The don's frown only deepened further. “What does that have to do with getting caught on camera?”

  
  


“Cameras are everywhere. I cannot silence everyone while still keeping casualties to zero. Unless Master would like me to-”

  
  


The creature never finished their sentence as the man quickly raised his hands. “No. No, no.”

  
  


He closed his eyes and sighed, “You're to be more secretive about how you do things. Why didn't you wait until he came out?” His eyes moved up to look at Skull.

  
  


The beast said nothing, stood still and looking down at their Master.

  
  


The don's eyes narrowed and he leaned forward slightly on his desk, fingers interlocking together and resting on the papers and folders in front of him.

  
  


“That was an order. Tell me.”

  
  


Skull said nothing at first, holding on to what little control over themselves they could, but it could never last. They were bound by their contract, tied to the magic that kept them trapped and obedient. Their head began to vibrate, the ancient script usually going unseen written across the nail driven into their skull lighting up from the very end and snaking downwards, spiraling across the metal before it seeped into the crack and started to spread across the rest of their head.

  
  


“I wanted to make things difficult for Master.” Skull finally said, their words a tad quicker, as though rushing through them to keep from experiencing pain. It was the only indication they made, save for perhaps the very slight twitch of their clawed fingers and the subsequent relax of them as the strange symbols faded, crawling back up their skull and into the nail to vanish completely.

  
  


The don leaned back in his chair, giving Skull a tense look. His eyes stared deep into the empty sockets of his beast, holding his gaze tightly before finally giving a wave of his hand.

  
  


“Away with you.” He said, fed up with the creature's disobedience, however small it might have been. It wasn't supposed to be able to resist orders. It wasn't supposed to be able to think or feel or have emotions or motives of its own.

  
  


With that command Skull's body turned to black vapor before dissipating entirely into the air. Their suit fell into a heap atop their shoes, the wolf skull quickly following and landing into the fabric before rolling to the side. The blackness that filled its eye sockets vanished and after only a few seconds it was as though the creature had never existed in the first place.

  
  


The don gestured to the only other man in the room, who moved to pick up the pile in a very practiced, deliberate motion.

  
  


The unmarked shoes would be cleaned. The suit would be incinerated. The skull would be washed, the bits of muscle and blood that lingered scrubbed away from the bone. Then it would all be dried and a new suit would be folded neatly underneath the skull before being put into the don's personal safe.

  
  


All of it would be seen. Skull would be unable to turn away as their head was cleaned, as they were placed inside a dark box before the door closed with a few heavy clicks. There was little else for the creature to do as they waited for their next task than to think back.

  
  


… Think back on their existence that had lead up to this point in time.

  
  


***

  
  


They no longer remembered how they came to be. Only that they were driven to consume; to devour.

  
  


They felt no hunger and yet something drove them forward, something primal and programed. There was no satisfaction as they ate suns, planets, or entire galaxies, yet they still did it. They still moved forward. They still absorbed everything they came across, big or small.

  
  


When they came upon Earth, a planet bustling with life, they did what they always did, ravaged it for everything it was worth.

  
  


The world was young and new, yet somehow the lifeforms that called it home were resilient and tenacious.

  
  


As they devastated the planet the humans talked in hushed whispers and frantic planning to come up with a plan to save them from this horrible creature destroying their home. Nations that had once been divided united in the common goal to save their world.

  
  


For much too long they were unsuccessful. No matter the technology or manpower they threw at it, nothing seemed to stop it or even slow it down. Then, with monumental effort, they sacrificed a very special energy nestled within their world to save it.

  
  


Magic.

  
  


Magic was not uncommon in the universe, but none had ever thought to sacrifice it in it's entirety to save themselves. An entire energy, an entire way of life, all put forth to try and stop the creature overwhelming their planet.

  
  


It worked. The creature was sealed into a small, unassuming piece of rock in the shape of a nail.

  
  


Although, even that was not 100% guaranteed to be sealed forever.

  
  


Everything in the universe, including magic, had its rules and stipulations. The beast could only bring forth the power of the living things it had devoured while on Earth, and it could be summoned and bound to another with a blood pact, losing it's own will to be controlled by a Master.

  
  


The Master also had the power to break the seal completely.

  
  


As years passed the stone was lost to time, exchanged between owners and sent adrift through multiple hands. The meaning and what it was lost somewhere along the way, and the horrific story of what their planet had gone through forgotten, along with the knowledge of magic.

 

It was as though none of it had ever happened.

  
  


...

  
  


Their first Master was little more than a child. It was the first time the beast was unable to disobey, unable to devour, unable to do anything but bend to the whims of another. They were furious and the child was terrified, having summoned the creature by chance alone simply by walking along with bare feet and scraping her foot along the pointed rock.

  
  


… But upon realizing that the creature wouldn't attack her, the young child began to use it to entertain herself.

  
  


She had watched it coil and shift between different forms in its anger, animals she recognized and others she didn't. Despite the macabre appearance of their skulls shifting along the beast's body she started to enjoy it. She started to ask the thing to switch between this and that, watching as the skull would swap for another and the black body would take shape to suit it.

  
  


A horse.

  
  


A cat.

  
  


A dog.

  
  


A bird.

  
  


The creature could not disobey. Some might have thought it demeaning, but they had no concept of the word.

  
  


So they did as they were told, their fury burnt out as soon as they realized their situation.

  
  


… The young girl liked the cat the most.

  
  


They adopted their new Master's most preferred form and began to venture with her, the girl treating them with a kindness they had never experienced before. She began to teach them things they had never known.

  
  


Emotions.

  
  


Affection.

  
  


Companionship.

  
  


Sympathy.

  
  


In turn they helped her survive on her own. There was no loving hand to guide her, no roof over her head. There was only her and her pet Skull, affectionately named from their deathlike appearance.

  
  


The child grew up on the streets of the city with her only friend to help her survive. They helped her stay warm and have an ear to listen to, pulled her attention away from the rumbling in her stomach. Meanwhile, she made sure that the strange creature never lost sight of what it meant to be human, even if they were anything but.

  
  


Love and affection and care were still new concepts to the beast. They still didn't fully understand, but they did feel something new, something strange and alien inside them. At first they ignored it, thought nothing of it.

  
  


... But one night a few loud, unruly men got a little too close for comfort; too near to the human girl they had started to care for.

  
  


They approached her.

  
  


Harassed her.

  
  


Touched her.

  
  


As soon as one of them grabbed for her arm they were dead.

  
  


Skull leapt from where they had been hiding, switching from a harmless cat to a ferocious tiger without their Master's orders.

  
  


They ripped the man's arm from his body, tore him to shreds while the other fled. Their Master screamed and cried and a single thought froze the beast in place.

  
  


_ Stop. _

  
  


They didn't chase the other, watching with hollow eye sockets as the man scrambled down the street and around a corner out of sight, slipping on trash and debris that had scattered along the alleyway they had been taking refuge in.

  
  


When they looked back at their Master she was sobbing, scrambling backwards and away from her companion. As Skull took a step towards her another thought stopped them in their tracks.

  
  


_ Don't come closer. _

  
  


She was scared of them.

  
  


Skull switched to something she liked to see more, the cat, removing the blood-stained tiger from what would be their face and replacing it with something they thought might be more innocent, more welcoming and familiar, less frightening. They tried to step forward again.

  
  


_ Stay away. _

  
  


They stayed.

  
  


They watched as their Master pulled herself away from the bloody scene, pulled herself away and hid behind the dumpster they had been rummaging through when she had been assaulted. Skull didn't know how long passed, but they could hear their Master sobbing from where they sat.

  
  


Eventually the sound of sirens pulled her out. She peered around the dumpster at what remained of the body in terror, at her companion still sat in the man's coagulating pool of blood beside their victim right where she had told them to stay. Skull didn't know why the sirens were always cause for alarm, why the red and blue lights made their Master walk a little faster or duck behind walls, but they never asked.

  
  


Asking questions wasn't something they did.

  
  


When their Master finally stood and grabbed her things while quickly telling them that they needed to go, Skull followed without question. They stepped through the viscous puddles of thickening blood and hurried behind their Master, not just following because they were ordered, but because they wanted to.

  
  


It was only when they were a safe distance away from the sirens and flashing lights and walking a steady pace did Skull's Master turn to address them. Her eyes were still red from crying, cheeks streaked clean by her tears at what she had witnessed her companion do. Yet despite the horrible deeds, she simply couldn't imagine being without them, being on her own again like she was as a very young child before they happened to cross paths.

  
  


“Skull?” She asked, voice stuffed from crying, “There's something I want you to promise me.”

  
  


Dark eyes looked down at her friend, who was calmly walking along beside her as she pushed the cart full of her belongings. The tiny creature looked back up at her, black holes and expressionless face attentive despite how little it moved. Only once she was sure they were paying attention did she speak again.

  
  


“I never want you to do that again. I never want you to kill anyone. Ever... ever again.”

  
  


Her voice caught in her throat as though she would begin crying anew.

  
  


“I don't want you to hurt anyone. I want you to be kind. Never take another life.” She paused, trying to read her friend's impassive, unmoving face.

  
  


“Will you promise me that?”

  
  


Skull watched her, listened to her, but made no indication one way or another that they would uphold that promise. There was no need. If their Master didn't want them to do something, they wouldn't do it. That was how the contract worked.

  
  


… But they found themselves _wanting_ to please her. Never wanting to make her cry again.

  
  


The creature still said nothing in reply, head turning to face forward again as they hurried along away from the scene.

  
  


...

  
  


Despite an amount of tension between them, things between Skull and their Master went mostly back to normal. Weeks passed and the apprehension the girl felt started to melt away, despite what her companion had done.

  
  


She couldn't be mad at them. They had been trying to protect her. They didn't know that killing was bad, not if how they acted when they first met was any indication. They weren't human, they didn't have the same range of emotions as she did and just needed to be taught. She had been trying to teach them during their time together, but feelings and the value of life weren't something you could teach easily, not to something that was from somewhere else entirely.

  
  


…

  
  


Weeks went by before they found her.

  
  


The man they killed must have belonged to someone important.

  
  


A trio approached as the girl was rooting around inside a trash bin, looking for something to keep her warm for the coming winter months. Skull watched from nearby, hoping maybe they could scare them off before anything got too--

  
  


A loud bang rang out as soon as their Master's head lifted to look at who was coming near.

  
  


A bullet right between the eyes.

  
  


The beast watched as their Master began to fall, tried to reach out with a growing set of human-like arms to catch her.

  
  


But those arms fell away as soon as they grew.

  
  


Everything started to fall away.

  
  


Their body turned to smoke, fading before they could reach out and touch what had once been their Master. Their skull began to crumble and chip, falling to the pavement without a body to sit on. Soon even that was gone, turned to nothing as the nail in their skull clattered against the ground.

  
  


The contract they had created with the girl was severed in an instant.

  
  


Their world turned black.

  
  


…

  
  


They didn't know how much time passed before they woke again.

  
  


Consciousness flooded back to them, the familiar cat skull forming from nothing, the nail firmly pierced above the eye socket. A body built up soon after, black smoke condensing as it swirled underneath the skull and pushed it upwards to sit atop a small, humanoid body with pointed fingertips.

  
  


Their head raised, looking at a man sat behind a desk in front of them. He clutched a bleeding finger in a handkerchief, eyes wide with shock at the tiny creature before him.

  
  


Then their head turned, spotting someone familiar.

  
  


The man who had fired the gun.

  
  


Skull didn't know what they felt. They were so used to not feeling anything. There had been a growing sense of affection and love for their Master before, but this wasn't it. They didn't know what to name this feeling, if it had one.

  
  


So they acted instead, their old Master's promises having no hold on them now.

  
  


The cat skull pulled downward into the beast's chest while another bubbled to the surface of their neck.

  
  


A wolf.

  
  


The monster's body contorted to match it's new face, shoulders growing and paws stretching, claws pushing outward and sharpening. Those in the room shied away in terror, shocked into continued silence as a noise began to surface from the beast; clicks and hums and vibrations while the shape of a jagged lower jaw filled with teeth pulled and stretched from the underside of the skull sat atop the creature's neck.

  
  


They leapt at the man that had killed their old Master.

  
  


He screamed and fell to the ground, arms reaching up to shield his face and neck as a set of jaws started to bite down into his arm, teeth colder than ice sinking into flesh. The other man sat behind the desk stood up to watch in terror and a single, solitary thought stopped Skull in their tracks from doing anymore harm.

  
  


_ Stop. _

  
  


They stopped. With teeth still sank into the man's arm, they stopped.

  
  


Black eye sockets stared down at their prey, unmoving while the other man leaned a little more forward over his desk to see what had happened.

  
  


Panic melted into confusion.

  
  


“... Get off him.” The man said after a moment, testing.

  
  


Skull released the arm between their jaws and took a few steps back, lower jaw fading and melding into the rest of their body. They didn't move or look up as their victim scrambled backwards, clutching his arm and breathing heavily.

  
  


“... Sit.” The well-dressed man commanded, wanting to be sure what he was seeing was actually true.

  
  


Skull sat.

  
  


…  After a moment, the don smiled.

 


	3. Chapter 3

As Skull became bored of thinking, bored of meditating on their past, their thoughts beginning to darken and snuff into nothing at all, the world opened up again. There was a rotating series of clicks that signaled the safe was being unlocked, followed by a heavy thunk. Light poured into the safe, illuminating what had been a dark world for who knew how long.

  
  


The passage of time meant little to them. Sometimes, they felt, time would drag on forever. Other times it was like a blink of an eye when it had been years before they were called upon again.

  
  


A pair of hands reached in, sliding underneath the neatly folded suit and skull to lift it out of the safe, carrying it over to a table that was placed in front of the don's desk. A pair of polished, unmarked shoes were soon set on the floor in front of it.

  
  


Then the man stepped away, leaving the room entirely.

  
  


“I have a job for you.” The don said, voice rigid and commanding. That was all it took for Skull to begin to materialize. More of an order might have been needed to get the creature to stir before, perhaps a few generations back, but not anymore. The prospect of a job, or something to do, was all it took.

  
  


They no longer resisted.

  
  


Swirls of black smoke collocated underneath the wolf skull sat on top of the folded suit until it was enough to lift it from its position and carry it upwards. It gathered and condensed, forming a humanoid body the height of an average man. Its shoulders were a little broader, hips a little more narrow, fingers and toes a little more pointed and sharp at the ends.

  
  


Once they stood before their Master, body as black as the deepest reaches of space, they slowly turned and started to pick up the clothing provided for them.

  
  


This was another inane ritual that they no longer fought against.

  
  


It had always been the same style suit with this particular human. The one that commanded him before was a little different, and the one before that different still, all choosing to design their pet in slightly different ways.

  
  


They buttoned up their white collared shirt as the don began to speak.

  
  


“I've been given word that a certain family is dabbling in something I'd rather them keep their hands out of.” He began, dark eyes watching as Skull began to slide their legs into a pair of trousers, tucking in the shirt and then tightening a belt around their waist.

  
  


“ Your job is to wipe them out. This time I don't care how messy you make it. Just be sure you deal with every single person inside. There are to be  _ no survivors. _ ”

  
  


The don finished and Skull said nothing in reply, reaching for the shoes provided for them and then leaning down to put them on, followed by the suit jacket. Their arms slipped into the sleeves quietly and they buttoned the front before finally turning to face their Master, the suit a perfect fit.

  
  


It was always a perfect fit.

  
  


“They're waiting for you downstairs.” The don said, his eyes beginning to narrow. “... _No survivors._ Remember.”

  
  


…

  
  


It was dark.

  
  


The bustle of the city began to grow less and less frequent, the sound of honking cars and yelling pedestrians making way for the soft buzz of the occasional streetlight and barking dogs as they traveled further from the center of the city and towards its more industrial outskirts.

  
  


Skull rode in the car provided for them with a few members of the family, each of them silent and a little tense as they sat with the beast their don controlled. All of them had long since realized that the thing was harmless to them, it couldn't do anything without the orders of the man who controlled it, but that didn't make it any less... unsettling to look at, especially when it sat inside a dark car, still as a board.

  
  


Slowly the car pulled over and came to a stop beside a crumbling sidewalk. One of the men sat across from the creature reached into their pocket and pulled out a phone, dialing the don before putting it on speaker. His voice came through loud and clear.

  
  


“ _ There will be a brick warehouse 200 yards away from your current location. There are guards stationed outside. You're to take them all out as fast as you can, don't give them enough time to alert those that are inside. Kill everyone on the property and return to the car promptly.” _

  
  


“ _ Remember, there are to be no survivors.” _

  
  


The line went dead.

  
  


Skull reached for the car door's handle and stepped out, closing it slowly once they were outside. The area was old and industrial, mostly abandoned or used for storage. A great place to work on something you wanted to keep hidden away from prying eyes.

  
  


They started to walk in the direction they had been told, coming to an old brick warehouse that had seen better days. Only a few guards walked around the premises, some stationed at key points about the warehouse while others moved in a set pattern. There weren't many lights, only one by the main entrance of the gate and a few above one of the back doors, the illusion that it was unoccupied easy to think if you looked at it in passing, or at a distance.

  
  


The creature stalked silently along the fence, stopping behind a section that was boarded off. There they waited until a pair of guards doing a round passed by.

  
  


Then they made their move.

  
  


Skull twisted around, grasping at the metal fencing and quickly ripping it open enough to dart through just as the guards were turning around at the noise, mist bubbling forward and condensing to create a black, jagged lower jaw underneath the wolf skull working as the monster's head.

  
  


“What the-” One began to mumble out, flashlight spinning to see little more than a black figure with a startlingly white face lunge for him. He managed nothing else, the beast pouncing on him and ripping at his throat with their newly formed lower jaw.

  
  


Before the man hit the ground Skull was turning on the other, the guard stammering and reaching for his weapon before he succumbed to the same fate, gun clattering to the ground as they sputtered and gagged, blood spitting across the creature's face as the man grappled at their shoulders before going slack as Skull dropped them, their job done.

  
  


As the second guard hit the crumbling pavement, Skull stepped over him, back straightening up. More black mist swirled around the back of their head, building up to create a set of ears fitting of the canine mask they wore. The ears swiveled and turned, listening in for the next pair of guards.

  
  


They began to run towards the next set of footsteps. It would only be a matter of time before the first set of guards were found. They would need to do this fast.

  
  


Master had said to kill everyone quickly. To leave no survivors.

  
  


They couldn't disobey.

  
  


Skull rushed to the next pair of guards, turning around a corner and leaping onto one of them, tearing out their throat before they could get a word in edgewise or have time to react.

  
  


Their partner, however, did.

  
  


The guard spun, a blast from his shotgun sinking into the beast and his now deceased comrade. It seemed to have no effect, the projectiles sinking into the creature as though its body simply consumed them entirely with no trace on the other side. The only indication it had even hit were the tears in the fabric of the suit they wore.

  
  


He managed to fire again before Skull turned on him, lunging and shredding his throat, the exposed flesh becoming mangled and veins rupturing under the hold of their jaws.

  
  


… But by then they knew that being stealthy about their mission was no longer an option. The entire compound would have definitely heard the shotgun blasts and what little yelling had managed to escape his victims’ mouths before their throats were ripped out from them.

  
  


The clamor of a door slamming open and directions being yelled only took a moment to reach the beast as they shoved themselves to their feet and started to run towards the noise.

  
  


They would have to do this quickly now, quicker than before. Once the first few guards witnessed them killing their friends so efficiently and brutally there was the risk of them throwing down their arms and running to save their own hides, and if there was one thing Skull would admit about humans, it was that they were very, very good at self preservation. Ever since they could remember humans would push one another over to make way for their own survival, trampling their own into the dirt in order to save themselves. The hundreds, perhaps thousands of years since then hadn’t changed a thing.

  
  


Skull raced towards the open door just as a group of guards were beginning to rush out, weapons drawn. They leapt, jaws wide and arms outstretched to tackle the unfortunate soul at the front of the group to the ground and sink their cold, jagged teeth into the flesh of the woman's neck before retching their head backwards, pulling the muscle and sinew along with it. Those who had been behind her stumbled backwards, yelling. They fired their weapons but, like before, everything that went into the creature looked to simply vanish after ripping through its clothing.

  
  


With another down they jumped for the next, slashing out their throat with the pointed tips of their fingers, sharp and cold. Just as the third guard was beginning to have second thoughts and back away, Skull grabbed for him. Sharp fingers dug into the fabric of the man’s jacket, keeping him rooted in place.

  
  


The man screamed and tried to get free, firing point-blank into the beast’s chest to no avail. Skull's free hand came down, slashing across the man's face. The flesh tore, showering across the stained concrete floor of the warehouse. Then they dropped him as he gurgled and clutched at what remained of his face, not waiting until he bled out to step over him.

  
  


After peering around, listening, tuning their ears in for any other signs of life, the creature determined that the guards had been dealt with.

  
  


… Hm. There hadn't been very many. Less than they had anticipated. Whoever was here must not have had a very deep wallet to afford much help, or perhaps had a hard time keeping help around. A part of them wondered why someone like this would have their Master so spooked.

  
  


No matter. Such things didn't concern them.

  
  


Skull began to walk through the rest of the warehouse, listening to make sure that everyone inside had been taken care of. It was hard to decide what exactly they had been doing judging by the surroundings. For all intents and purposes it looked like your typical abandoned warehouse; a few derelict trucks parked towards large garage doors long out of commission, crates with dusty spare parts to machines that had been long forgotten. The only things that looked new and out of place were a few chairs and a couple of wooden boxes with their lids askew.

  
  


Their attention was snapped back as something clattered high up in the catwalks.

  
  


The beast stopped and looked up, head turning to follow the metal pathways to a room high above. It sat nestled to one side, able to oversee everything that went on down below.

  
  


It had one way in and one way out.

  
  


Skull began to ascend the stairs, their pace slow and their shoes lightly tapping against the metal with each step. As they turned and drew closer to the door, their hand reaching for the knob, it flung open.

  
  


The last remaining guard shoved the barrel of her shotgun up into the monster's mouth and fired.

  
  


Bits of bone splintered off and showered outward, the wolf skull's snout shattered and gone. Only two hollow eye sockets and the back of the head remained, along with the black lower jaw and set of ears still resting on top.

  
  


The guard grinned, but it lasted only for a second.

  
  


Skull grabbed her head and slammed it into the side of the door frame, then again until there was a crunch.

  
  


As they dropped the last remaining guard, a woman screamed.

  
  


The beast turned to look at two more people inside the small room, an older man scrambling over something on a table and a younger woman, the one who had screamed, pressed against the far wall and staring with wide, horror-filled eyes.

  
  


Neither of them had anywhere else to go.

  
  


The seal pushed into the crack of Skull's head sunk deeper with an audible ' _ clunk _ '. The shattered wolf skull sank forward, the cold black that made up their body pulling it in just as another started to rise out of their neck, perfect and white. Just as the destroyed skull vanished the new one shook, the nail popping out from above the eye socket and tearing a crack into the bone. Darkness swirled, filling up the empty sockets like glasses of water.

  
  


Then he surged at the man hunched over the table.

  
  


Both of them screamed this time, a gun that had been in the man's hand sliding across the floor. He lifted his arm up to try and shield his neck, the beast ripping into it and yanking it around until the limb went weak and lifeless. With the arm out of the way their jaws wrapped around the old man's throat and tore at it just like they had with everyone's before.

  
  


Skull paid no mind when the woman raced for the gun. No gun had ever hurt them.

  
  


They stood, dropping the neck of the lifeless man underneath them and stepped towards the woman, huddled and afraid against the wall. She pointed the gun at them--

  
  


\--and it was only then that Skull noticed something familiar etched into the side of the barrel.

  
  


For the first time that they ever could remember, they hesitated. They could feel something deep inside them twist, even if they didn't know what it was.

  
  


They weren't supposed to feel.

  
  


The woman took her opportunity, her expression turning from horror to boiling rage as she fired the handgun into the creature’s chest.

  
  


There was no stumbling. No clutching their chest. No pain. No warning. As soon as the bullet made contact with Skull's body everything was over. It passed through them and out the other side like they were made of sand, and just like sand they crumbled completely in an instant.

  
  


Their body was like a tower of cards, a plume of smoke, and nothing more.

  
  


Their suit fell to the ground and their body turned to smoke that disappeared into the air almost instantly. The wolf skull never even met the ground, disintegrating before it could land.

  
  


The only other thing that hit the floor was the nail. It clattered against the ground and rolled to a stop.

  
  


Now the only thing left in the warehouse were corpses and the sound of the woman's sobbing.

  
  


She dropped the gun to her side and put her hands over her mouth, choking and gagging on the thick, coppery stench of blood and the horrible scene before her. Her dark eyes looked down at the man, mangled and bloody, reduced to a indistinguishable pile of flesh, the nail resting nearby.

  
  


… Her body went rigid.

  
  


She remembered what she had been told, what little they had learned about the creature and who controlled it.

  
  


There was no time for mourning right now.

  
  


She grabbed the gun again and tucked it into the band of her pants before quickly rushing towards the corpse of her father and the nail resting beside him. After snatching it up she shoved the tip into her finger, grimacing until it broke the skin and drew blood on its end.

  
  


Symbols began to glow down its length, the seal vibrating and pulling away from her hand. The woman let it go, watching as it moved away and dark mist began to pour from it seemingly from nowhere.

  
  


Something white started to form among the swirling mass of black, white and larger than the wolf skull from before. As it rose, as a shape started to form underneath it, it became more obvious what it was.

  
  


The skull of a tiger.

  
  


It's body was different too, wide shoulders and a barrelled chest, thick arms and longer fingers tipped with curved claws. It stood taller, body no longer hidden by the suit and swirling black before it settled and condensed. The skull shook as the nail popped out of the head in the same spot, sending a crack down to its eye as they filled up with the same nothingness that made up the rest of them.

  
  


Skull angled their head slightly downward, looking at the woman before them. Her face was streaked and stained with tears that had since ceased, although her eyes still stared up at them with an anger that was almost palpable.

  
  


…

  
  


They reached down, offering their hand to help the woman to her feet.

  
  


A new contract had begun.

 


End file.
